From the team that brought you Come See Me in the Good Light...
Andrea Gibson’s Love Letter From The Afterlife
Megan Falley, The Washington National Opera Orchestra
November 17
Doors: 6:30PM / Show: 7:30PM
Buy TicketsTickets are non-transferable until 72 hours prior to the show time. Any tickets suspected of being purchased for the sole purpose of reselling can be cancelled at the discretion of The Anthem / Ticketmaster, and buyers may be denied future ticket purchases for I.M.P. shows. Opening acts, door times, and set times are always subject to change.
Andrea Gibson
From the team that brought you Come See Me in the Good Light, join us for Andrea Gibson’s Love Letter from the Afterlife— a multimedia event bringing together film, live poetry, music, orchestral accompaniment, and intimate storytelling in a celebration of one of the most beloved voices of a generation.
At the heart of each evening is Love Letter from the Afterlife, a stunning film capturing Andrea Gibson’s final live performance: a brilliant, brave, tender, and raucous poetry set recorded at Denver’s Paramount Theatre in 2024. The film was produced by the team behind the Oscar-nominated documentary, Come See Me in the Good Light.
Throughout the event, The Goosebumps Orchestra will perform Blake Neely’s original score live alongside Gibson’s filmed performance, creating a deeply immersive experience that expands the poetry beyond the screen. Guest artists will join throughout the night, coupled with film and performances that will transform each stop into a living, breathing composition and a singular celebration of Gibson’s work. Threading the night together is Megan Falley—Andrea's wife, fellow poet, who will share intimate stories of love, collaboration, humor, and artistic kinship. Through Falley's narration, audiences will discover the relationships and moments of serendipity connecting each guest artist to Andrea's life and enduring legacy.
Part concert, part cinema, part communal celebration, the Love Letter from the Afterlife tour invites audiences to experience Andrea Gibson's work the way it has always been meant to be experienced: together.
“When I chose to name the show Love Letter from the Afterlife, I didn’t realize how fully I was describing what was about to happen. At Red Rocks, ten thousand of us arrived believing we had come to remember Andrea. We left feeling we had heard from them directly. Nothing can replace being in a room with Andrea. But for anyone who never had that good fortune, I hope this tour offers something I didn’t know was possible: the feeling that Andrea is still speaking, and speaking directly to you,” said Falley.
Megan Falley
The Washington National Opera Orchestra
“Washington National Opera Orchestra’s enthralling playing… is the major character in this epic tale.” DC Metro Theater Arts
Established in 1978 at the Kennedy Center, the Washington National Opera Orchestra is uniquely versatile. A single orchestra with two names, the ensemble is known as the WNOO when performing opera, and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra when performing in the Opera House for ballet and musical theater.
The WNOO has collaborated with the greatest operatic talents of our time, including singers Renée Fleming, Mirella Freni, Placido Domingo, Samuel Ramey, Anna Netrebko, Denyce Graves, Angela Gheorghiu, Bryn Terfel, and José Carreras, and conductors Daniel Barenboim, Valery Gergiev, Leonard Slatkin, André Previn, Julius Rudel, and Richard Hickox. The orchestra flourished under the guidance of former music directors Heinz Fricke and Phillipe Auguin, and now looks forward to a new era under Maestro Robert Spano. Memorable achievements in the orchestra’s history include a tour to Japan under Maestro Fricke, and Francesca Zambello’s extraordinary “American Ring Cycle.”
As the KCOHO the ensemble supports the world’s leading dance companies, including New York City Ballet, the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Ballets, the Royal Ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre, with whom they have enjoyed a relationship of over five decades. They have been honored to provide music for legendary dancers Suzanne Farrell, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Julie Kent, and Misty Copeland. The KCOHO also performs Broadway hits from The Sound of Music to Hamilton, and participated in the acclaimed Sondheim Festival, about which the New York Times opined: “This score has never sounded so good…the musical accompaniment was superb.”
WNOO performances have been praised in the press as “compelling,” “polished and sensitive,” “the star of the show,” “dynamic, lithe, and incisive,” “nothing short of spectacular,” and the Washington Post admired “…one of the most nuanced and sensitive and powerful Wagner performances I’ve ever heard…”
The 62 musicians of the WNOO earn their positions through rigorous international auditions. These fine musicians are also engaged citizens dedicated to enriching their communities. The WNOO has a longstanding relationship with Miriam’s Kitchen, a DC nonprofit that combats homelessness, and they founded a program providing instruments and instruction at Columbia Heights Education Campus, a DC magnet school for underserved youth. They educate and mentor young musicians at most if not all DC area schools.
Among the WNOO complement you will find not only graduates of prestigious musical institutions such as Juilliard, Curtis, Cleveland Institute of Music, Yale, and Peabody, but also degree holders from Princeton, Harvard and Stanford. You will find a hornist who spends her free time on a flying trapeze, a three-time state champion archer, a bassoonist who has performed in a hot air balloon, a trumpet player and conductor who founded a burgeoning music festival in Miami, a cellist who founded a successful international outreach program that empowers young people through music, and many other fascinating and multi-talented individuals.
As dedicated artists in a specialized musical tradition, the WNOO is excited to accompany the Washington National Opera on their coming journey.
Venue Information:
The Anthem
901 Wharf St SW
Washington, DC, 20024
theanthemdc.com